Chapter 5 - Turning Point…

The term Maverick used to only apply to reploids that decided they didn't want humans ordering them around. Even after Sigma's uprising, people still thought that the mavericks chose to be the way they were. The change in that belief occurred when Dr. Doppler discovered the Maverick Virus and created his vaccine. This turning point, if you will, lead to a dramatic change in the perception and judgment of not only the mavericks, but the reploid race as a whole. -'Professor Xavier Hikari' lecturing to NIT students

The robot beckoned me to follow him through the hallways. "I can understand your surprise, but be reassured, I am telling you the truth. I am Pharaoh Man; a robot can't lie."

"You…but, I don't understand. How are you…aren't you dead? I mean, I never took a history course in my life, but I was under the impression that all you Wily bots were destroyed by Mega Man."

At this, Pharaoh Man stopped and turned around. "I am not, and have never been, a Wily bot as you so eloquently put it. I was built by Dr. Sergei Cossack who was blackmailed into starting a robot rebellion by Dr. Wily. Naturally, there was some stigma associated with us when the doctor rebuilt us, but he wanted us around to protect his daughter should something have happened to him." He continued walking and I followed.

"And that's what you've been doing. What about the cloak? Wouldn't it have…"

"No. The doctor and his daughter have long since passed. We are all that's left."

Now I was really confused. "We?"

The lights brightened in the room we had entered and I saw what Pharaoh Man was talking about. Pharaoh Man walked to the other side of the room and joined the seven other robots that were standing there. "These are my brothers. You may have read about them. Dust Man, Skull Man, Dive Man, Drill Man, Toad Man, Bright Man, and Ring Man."

"My god…you guys are living legends! Do you know how much people could learn from you? The historical knowledge would be amazing."

Bright Man spoke this time. "We don't want for people to know about our existence. Better to remain legends then to unearth too many questions."

"What questions are you afraid of?"

Ring Man replied this time. "Well since I guess we're trusting you with the knowledge of our existence, I suppose we should be honest. We're afraid people would ask us what happened to Mega Man."

This was interesting. Every reploid worth his control chip knew that Mega Man was the reason the reploid race even exists. 'But they do have a point. Nothing says anything about Mega Man after a certain point in time. It's as if he and Wily and all the players of that age just dropped off of the face of the Earth.' "Well okay, that's fair. Seeing as how he just disappeared from the record books, I suppose he's in hiding as well? That would be strange, but about as strange as eight 'Cossack bots' living in a cloaked castle in Siberia."

It was then that I noticed all the robots had their heads tilted downwards, almost as if they were mourning. Pharaoh Man spoke. "No, he is not in hiding…he's dead."

I was stunned, partly because of this revelation, and partly because I had just realized how much of an ass I made of myself. "I'm…sorry. How?"

"Murdered, by Wily's final creation. The red demon known as Zero."

'Oh god! It was true then. Sigma couldn't have created this little scenario just for me. If Zero was the one responsible for the death of Mega Man, then Sigma must have been right about the virus and Zero's clashing personality. I've got to find some way of stopping it.'

"You are not surprised by this?"

I broke out of me reverie to see the robot masters staring intently at me. "Wh…what?"

Skull Man stepped forward. "We just told you that Zero was the final creation of Dr. Wily. You're a maverick hunter, correct? I would think this information would be alarming to you."

'Damn it.' I was trapped now. "Oh, it is. I just…"

The rest of the robots advanced on me. Pharaoh Man said, "Vava's not your name is it? Who are you really?"

I was about to think of something clever when my communicator went off. "Vile. What is your location? Our scanners say you haven't teleported out of the base, but no one seems to know where you are."

The robots recoiled in horror. They must have kept up with the news because they obviously knew that voice. "Sigma," Pharaoh Man muttered. "You're a maverick!"

I had to be quick. "I'm in the middle of something. I'll report back later." I turned off my communicator. "I'm not a maverick."

"That was the leader of the mavericks! And your name is Vile! You're the maverick that keeps getting rebuilt! What are you trying to pull?"

"I've never been totally in league with Sigma. I've never even been infected with the Maverick Virus. Right now I have a bigger priority. Sigma is going to try to destroy the world, and he's going to use Zero to do it."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know Dr. Wily created Zero, Sigma informed me on that little detail. What you guys probably don't know was that Wily also created the Maverick Virus. That's what makes Zero so dangerous and that's why Sigma's the leader of the mavericks, he was infected by Zero a long time ago. This caused Zero's dormant personality to emerge and allowed him to become the maverick hunter everybody loves to idolize."

"That would explain the difference in personality Zero showed after he was reactivated. He was completely different when he fought Mega Man then he is now. But why are you doing this? If you are not infected with the Virus then why are you serving Sigma?"

"I haven't always served Sigma. The only reason I've helped him in the past was to destroy X. But things have changed. Sigma plans on inundating Zero with the Virus so that his personality will be suppressed and he will become what he once was."

If it had been possible for a robot to pale in fear I could swear Pharaoh Man would have done so. "The Demon…" He shook his head and stared at me. "You are correct Vile, we have to do something about this. What do you suggest?"

I didn't realize that I was going to be made de facto leader of this group. "Well…Sigma won't tell me when he's going to go through with this. I think he suspects that I may try to sabotage his plan. I highly doubt I'll get anything more from him. Furthermore, I'm relatively positive that I'm not safe if I go back to Sigma. He's got his spy keeping tabs on me and if I go back, he'll follow me to the ends of the earth."

"Who is his spy?"

"It's Axl."

"What? But Axl is a hunter!"

"He's been infected with the Virus. Don't ask me how, but somehow he doesn't show up on the scanners, I haven't figured that out yet."

"My god, a double agent all this time? What could we do?"

I looked to the floor. "Not much. The instant I try to rat out Sigma's plan to the hunters, I immediately get ID'd as Vile the maverick and am retired on the spot. So I can't warn anybody, and I can't try to stop whatever Sigma's plan is from happening."

"So it would seem we are reduced to reactionary forces."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Alright, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to go back to Sigma's and tell him I was just outside contemplating the current events. Then I'm going to go back to the hunters. It's only been about an hour or so since I left, so hopefully I won't have been missed. If something big happens, probably something involving Zero, I'll give you guys a call and let you know the situation."

Pharaoh Man and the other robot masters nodded in agreement. "Very well Vile. We shall await an update. Good luck."

With that I left the castle and entered the freezing tundra.

--

I made my way back to the base and eventually found Sigma. "You called?"

Sigma was assuredly pissed off. 'Maybe I shouldn't have hung up on him. He's always harder to deal with when he's angry.' "Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you."

"What for?"

"It's about Zero. Axl tells me that he has an appointment with a reploid psychologist tomorrow. Odd isn't it?"

"Zero is no ordinary reploid though. He was created by a madman bent on destroying the world."

"Point taken. Since you've had so much success in infiltrating the Hunters, I wanted you to try to get closer to X. The recent events have put a lot of strain on him and this would be a good time to figure him out, as you seem so keen on doing. I want to know his emotional state. It'll make the next part of the game easier if I do."

"Why don't you have your lackey do it?"

"X puts on a different attitude with Axl. I'm hoping he'll open up better to the new recruit who probably won't say anything if asked by the famous hunter."

Excellent! This would allow me to get closer to X without arousing Sigma's suspicion even more then I already have. "Very well then. It would certainly make him easier prey for me."

"Very good Vile. See to it then. Report back to me in twenty four hours."

I warped out of the base and towards Hunter headquarters.

--

Ditching my helmet near the complex once again, I went inside the front door. The same security guard noticed me. "Hey! They not get your signal coded in yet?"

Every hunter's warp signature had to be logged into the central computer to allow warp entry directly into the base. Unfortunately for me, my signature has already been coded as a maverick a long time ago. If I try to warp directly into headquarters, not only will the shield repel me, it'll alert every single hunter in the building to my coordinates. "Nah, not yet. Still got to do all sorts of paperwork yet."

"Ugh, tell me about it. You have a good night man."

"Yeah, you too." I continued to make my way into headquarters; I needed to find X.

The problem, however, was that such an action was easier said then done. I went to the training rooms, the supply bay, the medical ward, and even the courtyard, and all with no luck. Finally I resigned myself to getting something to drink at the cafeteria. I walked through the door, and suddenly, 'jackpot!' There X sat with some female reploid that didn't look familiar to me. He hadn't seen me yet, so I walked over and sat at a table facing away from them. I tried to listen in as best as I could, but they were speaking very softly.

"I just don't know anymore. I want Zero to know that I'm here for him, but he's been putting more and more distance between us. And now that he's got this therapy session to go to I'm worried it might not go the way we want."

The girl spoke up now. "Hey, don't worry about it. You and Zero have been friends for decades. Whatever he's dealing with right now, he'll figure it out and things will probably go back to the way they were."

"I hope so."

I slowly peered over my shoulder to see more of what this girl X was talking to looked like. Then I saw them holding hands. 'Oh! Oh my god! He loves her.'

X stood up. "Well, I guess I should go see if I can find Zero. Got to get him ready for his appointment tomorrow. I'll see you later Alia."

The girl, Alia apparently, stood up next to him and caught him in an embrace. "I'll see you X."

As the two of them walked out together I sat in shock at what I had just witnessed. 'Oh god. He loves her. I…I can't…he's changed so much.' I hung my head in defeat.

"Hey there buddy. What's up."

'Damn.' "Axl. What do you want?"

The young reploid sat down in front of me, grinning all the while. "Well, it's not really what I want. If it was…well, it wouldn't be pretty. Actually, I was asked by Sigma to ask you if you figured anything out yet.

I looked towards the floor. "He loves her," I muttered.

"Uh, what? Could you say that again?"

"X loves her. That girl, Alia. They…"

"Oh, right, yeah yeah yeah, we already know that. In fact…well I probably shouldn't tell you this." Axl looked to his left and right quickly, he looked like he was having a very difficult time trying to contain his excitement. "Ohh, what the hell! Part of Sigma's master plan is the destruction of the hunters. Well, before that, I'm going to go in and kill quite a few myself. But I was thinking of infecting that babe Alia with the Virus. Eh, eh?"

My eyes widened. I shouldn't have been surprised, but even for a maverick, this amount of calculated cruelty was overwhelming.

"And of course, it would be the best if X had to be the one that fought her after the Virus overwrote her mind. Man, that would be something to see."

If I hadn't been so shocked by Axl's idea, I'm certain I would have leapt up and done something I'd have instantly regretted.

"Well, I guess if that's all you found out, I should let you get back to your reconnaissance. I'll talk to you later, you can be sure of that." Axl got up and walked out of the cafeteria, whistling as he went.

I was quivering with rage. If I didn't find somewhere where I could blow things up soon I was going to do something that would get me killed. Mavericks weren't sociopaths. Axl was just downright sick. I decided I needed another go at that simulation room.

I entered the simulation room and almost took a blast of plasma in the face. I managed to duck out of the way in time, and the plasma passed harmlessly over me.

"Whoa! Pause simulation! Sorry about that. I didn't think anybody would come in. Usually when the control panel outside says that the room is occupied people don't enter. You okay?"

I looked upwards. Zero was standing above me, offering me a hand. 'Damn it, I need to stop being so careless.' "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I…uh, I didn't think you'd still be here."

"Oh. Well, this is one of the best places to let off some steam. You looked like you could use some when you were walking in."

"Yeah, I…got into a bit of a disagreement with someone in the cafeteria and I decided to come here."

"Hmmm, probably the best thing to do. While I do enjoy the occasional bar fight, it's not a good idea to start one with someone you're counting on to get your back when you're out hunting."

"…Yeah. Absolutely."

There was a bit of an awkward pause as I tried to think of something else to say. Zero piped in before I could find a decent reason to leave. "Say, did you want to do some doubles runs?"

I assumed he meant simulations where the both of us could fight. "Sure. Yeah, I'd like that."

Zero looked markedly better after I had agreed. "Excellent. Which sim should we run?"

"Oh, I have no idea. You pick something."

"Arighty then. Howzabout Sigma's palace from the first Uprising? It'll be fun not dying this time."

"O…okay. Sure thing." 'Oh damn. If this is anything like the highway sim, then I know what's coming. Okay, just gotta keep it cool.' The sim started and away we went.

We had gotten through the first ring of Sigma's defenses and we were about halfway through the second ring when the simulation paused itself, and X walked in.

"Zero, there you are. I have been looking for you all over the place. Come on, you have to get some sleep, you still have that psychiatric appointment tomorrow."

"X!" Zero then pointed his thumb towards me while still facing X.

X's eyes went wide as he realized I was in the room. "Oh! Vava, hi. Didn't see you there." He then looked back at Zero and mouthed 'sorry.'

Zero just put his hand on his forehead. "Can it wait X? We're on a roll here."

X looked at me again and then he turned his attention back to Zero. "Well…alright. But only if I get to join in."

Zero looked relieved, not to mention the excitement evident on his face. "You got it! Just try not to slow us down."

As we made our way further through the simulation, I took a bit of a back seat to the other two. I wanted to observe them more. By the time we had destroyed all of the maverick drones in Sigma's third ring, I was convinced. These two were unstoppable when they worked together. 'Imagine if they were enemies, as Sigma would have it. The whole planet wouldn't be big enough for their fights.'

We got to a portion of the third ring that looked vaguely unfinished when I heard someone call out from the shadows. "Three hunters? That's a bit unfair isn't it? Ah well, it should make no difference. I'll crush you all!"

Suddenly the floor shook and a Goliath ride armor fell from the ceiling. A rookie hunter would have probably jumped back in fright, but I knew what this was. This was the last fight of my life. 'Well, my first life anyway.' Sitting at the controls was a purple colored, helmet wearing reploid named Vile. I leveled my buster and fired a charge shot. X did the same while Zero ran towards the ride armor with his saber, ready to cleave it in two.

To it's credit, the simulation must scale in difficulty the more hunters there are running a sim. Vile managed to swat Zero away and then leveled the armor's guns at X and I. X had already started to move, but I was slow and I was tagged with a few rounds.

'Damn it! Keep that up and it's going to beat me." Enraged, I activated my dash thrusters and leapt completely over the ride armor. I turned and unloaded shot after shot into the armors vulnerable backside. Eventually, with X and Zero both attacking it as well, the armor started to explode and the simulated Vile leapt out. "Bah! I don't need that crutch to win. Fight me hunters!"

"You got it Boba Fett!"

I hated that nickname. I couldn't tell Zero to shut it though, not without making him suspicious.

Surprisingly enough, Vile went after me fist. He dashed into me and hit me with his blue aura. This was bad. If he hit me with another attack, two if I was lucky, I would be out of this fight.

Zero called out, "X! Cover me, I'm going in."

"Roger!" The next thing I knew I was watching X, his back turned away from me, as he began shooting suppressive fire at Vile.

'He…he's wide open. I could do it; it would be like nothing. Zero would notice, but I might be able to get away before he could get to me. This…this is it.' My buster began building a charge. 'How ironic. Killed by the real thing while fighting a simulation.'

My buster finished charging and I stood. I leveled my buster at my target. Suddenly, I was totally calm; it was like the whole world had stopped and I was gifted with a burst of total clarity. Then I fired.

The ball of plasma soared past X and Zero and impacted Vile's helmet. X, a look of surprise on his face, turned to give me some form of encouragement, but I was already dashing past him. Zero had backed up slightly after I had hit Vile, trying to avoid his blind firing. I flew past him. "Vava! Wait!" I heard X's cries, but I didn't heed them.

I leapt up and unleashed another charged blast directly at Vile's shoulder-cannon luckily managing to overload it. 'That's one weapon down. Now for the big cheese.' Using the backwards momentum I gained from my shot, I managed to throw my feet forward, impacting with Vile's damaged chest and taking us both to the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see X and Zero moving closer to me. They obviously didn't want to get too close. I couldn't blame them; I must have looked like an animal. I unleashed a flurry of punches directly into the small hole I had created in Vile's chest armor. He lifted his head and then pointed his hand at me. I immediately grabbed his hand and snapped it violently backwards and then to either side finally weakening it enough to where I could rip it off. He brought his legs up to either side of my head, obviously trying to snap my spine, but I would have none of that. As I began charging again, I grabbed his lower torso and, straining under the load, lifted him up and swung him back down to the floor. This was enough to loosen his hold on my head and I followed up with a super shot directly into his damaged armor. He screamed as blue electricity arc over the damaged parts of his body, and then he fell silent. Standing over him I realized how heavy my breathing had gotten. Then I turned around.

'Uh oh.' X and Zero were coming closer to me, but they didn't look too thrilled. Zero was the first to speak. "What the hell was that?"

My eyes darted over to X, but he was staring at me with the same intentness that Zero had. "Uhmm…I beat the maverick?"

It was X's turn to talk now. "That was a class eight maverick. You almost took him out with your bare hands. How did you do that?"

"He uh…he attacked me. I was just fighting back."

X shook his head slowly. "I've only ever seen one other reploid go that battle crazy before. Maybe there's something you're not telling us."

'Shit, shit, shit!' "What are you saying."

"There's no way a volunteer police force officer could take out a maverick of that caliber. Not alone. Tell us who you really are."

I looked back and forth between the two hunters. I then bowed my head and said, "I…I can't. I don't remember."

X's face turned into one of worry. "What?"

"I…one day, I woke up in an alleyway, badly damaged and with no memory of who I was. I stumbled upon the lab of this reploid engineer and he managed to fix me. But he couldn't restore my damaged memory files. After I was fixed, and I had worked for him to recompense him for the expense it took, I gave myself the name Vava and left to see the world. It was then that I learned about the mavericks and I assumed that I had been damaged in one of their attacks. I thought that if I had been damaged and left for dead, I must have tried to resist them. I found that I had some natural talent with my weapons, so I decided I would join the hunters, at least for as long as it took to find some way of restoring my damaged memory." I had just BS'd the biggest story ever to the two biggest threats to my life. I thought there was no way they would go for it.

However, some human a long time ago once said that the biggest lies are the easiest to swallow. This must have been true, because X's reaction was exactly what I had been hoping for. "Oh my gosh! That's incredible! Wow, and here I thought you were a green horn all this time. Oh man, I'm sorry. Hey, maybe Lifesaver can help with getting your memory back. He's pretty good at what he does, maybe he'll know something about restoring corrupted memory."

"That would be great. I'll have to see him. Lifesaver right?"

"Yeah, the medical bay is in the east wing. I can set up an appointment for you if you like?"

"Maybe tomorrow, it's getting late and I think I need some rest."

"Oh, that's right, Zero, you need to get ready for your appointment. I think we should probably all head to our quarters." I glanced over at Zero. He didn't look nearly as convinced of my story as X was, but I figured that X's trust was good enough for him. He turned and left the simulation room. "Well, hopefully I'll see you tomorrow Vava. Don't forget to set up an appointment with Lifesaver, okay?"

"I won't, good night X." I watched him leave and hang a right, following Zero. Then I was alone. I looked back towards my simulated corpse. I walked over to it and looked down into where the eyes were behind the helmet. "I am a hunter! I will protect the innocent and destroy anything that has the Maverick Virus. I will stop you Sigma!"

There and then, I committed myself down a path, the path I should have taken all those years ago. X was no longer my enemy. I had been in the wrong to misjudge him so. I thought I was better then him because he choose not to be responsible for the power that he had been born with. I thought that he didn't try to be a hunter, or to understand what it was all about. His constant worrying I took to be a sign of weakness. I was gravely mistaken. It's what made him so much more then anything I could ever be. It made him human and I was angry because I didn't think him worth it. All these long decades, I had never once tried to understand him, to know why I insisted on continuing my vendetta.

"No more. I will put that aside and try to redeem myself." The only problem was that if I tried to tell him who I really was, I would be retired on spot. I had to try to get him in an isolated situation. 'Maybe tomorrow.'

I left the simulation room and found the temporary barracks that was assigned to new recruits. 'Heh, empty. No wonder they made such a big deal about my signing up.' I got into the closest stasis tube and began to cycle down my systems. "First thing tomorrow, I try to find a way to talk to X privately. Then see about stopping Sigma." I entered stasis and lost awareness with the world.

Unfortunately, it didn't last...

End Chapter 5